By: Taylor B. and Allison

Introduction

Saponification is the process of producing soap, usually from fats and lye. It involves base hydrolysis of triglycerides. Triglycerides, such as vegetable oils and animal fats are converted to soap in a one or two-step process. For the one-step process, the triglyceride reacts with a strong base, such as lye. This reaction speeds up the breaking of the ester bond, which releases the fatty acid salt and glycerol. When a fat combines with NaOH, salt and water form in the acid-base reaction. Soap is a metallic salt of a fatty acid and the natural fat, or oil, is an ester.

Saponification extends further than the making of soap. In the making of soap, saponification includes the hydrolysis of purified triglycerides. However, saponification can also include hydrolysis of unpurified triglycerides. In this saponification, the fat of a corpse is converted into adipocere, also known as "grave wax".

Mechanism

A series of equilibria occurs when the esters react with a base. The carbonyl group of the ester is broken up by the hydroxide anion. This product is called an orthoester.
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